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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25866634">Aunt Peg</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/GNM_dreaming_girl/pseuds/GNM_dreaming_girl'>GNM_dreaming_girl</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Agent Carter (TV), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Aunt Peggy Carter, Awesome Peggy Carter, Civil War Team Iron Man, F/M, Grief/Mourning, Hurt Tony Stark, Not Canon Compliant, Peggy Carter is Tony Stark's Godparent, Pepper Potts Is a Good Bro, Sharon Carter is Tony's cousin, Tony Stark Feels, she actually is the absolute best character ever</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 07:55:58</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>6,124</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25866634</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/GNM_dreaming_girl/pseuds/GNM_dreaming_girl</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony deals with the death of the one and only Peggy Carter.</p><p>~~</p><p>“Margaret Elizabeth “Peggy” Carter died in her sleep, she didn’t suffer.”<br/>His hand was shaking, hell, all his body was shaking, he didn’t know if he would be able to talk, didn’t know how his voice would come out but after thirty seconds of silence he forced himself to speak.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Happy Hogan &amp; Pepper Potts &amp; James "Rhodey" Rhodes &amp; Tony Stark, Happy Hogan &amp; Tony Stark, James "Rhodey" Rhodes &amp; Tony Stark, Peggy Carter &amp; Ana Jarvis, Peggy Carter &amp; Edwin Jarvis, Peggy Carter &amp; Edwin Jarvis &amp; Tony Stark, Peggy Carter &amp; Howling Commandos, Peggy Carter &amp; Sharon Carter, Peggy Carter &amp; Tony Stark, Peggy Carter/Daniel Sousa, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Sharon Carter &amp; Tony Stark</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>568</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Tony Stark Has A Heart (deal with it)</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Aunt Peg</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Disclaimers :</p><p>The MCU is obviously not mine (if it was a lot of things would have happened differently)</p><p>English is not my birth language, please notify me if you see any mistakes.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Tony was surprised when his phone went off, he was in the tower, if F.R.I.D.A.Y had chosen not to take the call through the speakers she must have had a good reason. He answered, raising the phone to his ear.</p><p>“Tony Stark answering,” he said. </p><p><em> “Hello Mr Stark,” </em> it was a woman speaking and she seemed to have… compassion ? showing through her tone. <em> “I am the director of the center for elders of St Louis.” </em></p><p>He freezed at the name of the facility. </p><p>“Did something happen ?” he asked, refusing to imagine the worst, surely they called because they wanted more money, it wasn’t a problem, he could give them all they wanted.</p><p>
  <em> “Margaret Elizabeth “Peggy” Carter died in her sleep, she didn’t suffer.” </em>
</p><p>His hand was shaking, hell, all his body was shaking, he didn’t know if he would be able to talk, didn’t know how his voice would come out but after thirty seconds of silence he forced himself to speak.</p><p>“Did you call…”</p><p>He wasn’t able to finish his sentence, thanks to some mysterious force, the woman seemed to understand.</p><p>
  <em> “Mrs Carter’s grandniece has been informed by one of my employees as I was on the phone with you.” </em>
</p><p>“Thank you,” he hung up.</p><p>On the other side of the room, Steve received a text message and for the second time, Tony heard those words, “Margaret Elizabeth ‘Peggy’ Carter, died in her sleep.” Tony couldn’t take it, he left the room, receiving disbelieving looks from his team who was reuniting around Steve. </p><p> </p><p>Tony locked himself in his lab and drowned himself in his work, not letting the pain come through. It worked for an hour or so, until he asked DUM-E to bring him a tool. </p><p>Then he remembered his twelfth birthday, one more his father had forgotten. Peggy had arrived early that morning, they had spent most of the day playing music and dancing, she always said he was the perfect dance partner. At the end of the day he opened the gift she had gotten him, it was pieces he needed to finish his latest project and he had been so happy because she had remembered. Without Peggy Carter, DUM-E might never have existed and that was enough for the tears to break free and for him to crumble. He remembered her laugh when he had presented her to the robot and told her its name, how her whole face illuminated. </p><p>After that, it was as if a gate had been opened and he just couldn’t close it anymore, memories came rushing in his mind, each making him cry a little bit more.</p><p>He remembered the night his parents died, she had shown up at his door with red swollen eyes and tears stains on her cheeks. She had pulled him in her arms and had held him all night as he cried, when he stopped he remembered her getting up and making him a big cup of hot chocolate with a lot of marshmallows, the exact same one Daniel made all the time. Daniel had joined them the next morning, bringing breakfast and embracing Tony as soon as he saw him. They had spent the whole day in, not doing anything but talking and reminiscing, they had talked about his mother, had shared memories and eaten cheeseburgers. The cheeseburgers part was important, he knew, because she had been the one to insist on those, the one who gave him his love of it. Every single time she came to take him out of the hell his house was and brought him to hers and Daniel’s they stopped to buy cheeseburgers, those were a synonym of respite for him and that was thanks to her. </p><p>After crying for a good hour, he got back to work, focusing on it, as long as he had something to do he wouldn’t have to think so much, and at that moment he would do absolutely anything to keep his mind from wandering off to the face of his beloved godmother. The lab was shut, so when Natasha tried to come down she couldn’t enter and he was so focused on his worktable he didn’t even notice her on the other side of the glass. The rest of the team was focused on Steve, Natasha was too, but she had noticed right away there was something weird in Tony’s behaviour, Vision seemed to know something too but hadn’t shared his knowledge with the rest of them. She had had enough of Wanda’s and Clint’s side remarks about the absence of Tony, she didn’t get why they were acting like this, was it about the accords still ? She also noticed Tony wasn’t working like he would usually do, there wasn’t any rock music blasting through the speakers, he wasn’t dancing, he was drowning in his work.</p><p> </p><p>“Incoming call from Sharon ‘Ronron’ Carter, Boss.” called the AI, bringing Tony back to reality, a reality he didn’t want to be a part of if Margaret ‘Peggy’ Carter wasn’t a part of it too. “Do you want to answer it ?”</p><p>“Yes” he wiped the tears off his face, hoping it would help him have a normal voice. </p><p><em> “Tony ?” </em>her voice sounded wrong, he didn’t like it this way at all, she had definitely been crying and he didn’t even know how to help her. </p><p>“Hey, Ronron, do you need my help, for the funeral ? Anything ?”</p><p>
  <em> “No… I just… I don’t really know why I called… I just…” </em>
</p><p>“I know,” he answered, and he did, that was the very same thing he was craving that she wanted. “Send me your position, I’m on my way.”</p><p>When he walked out the door he had something to do, an objective, it was enough for him to take a step, and another one, and another one, and another one, until he reached his car (at least one of his). He got into it and thanked himself, for he had modified it so F.R.I.D.A.Y could drive it. </p><p>“Take me to the address Sharon sent Fri,” he demanded. “And make somebody bring cheeseburgers, marshmallows and everything necessary to make a hot chocolate there.”</p><p>“The order had been made sir,” the A.I said after a few seconds as the car left the parking under the Stark Tower. </p><p>It took him half an hour to reach Sharon’s apartment, she opened the door even before he knocked, she had been waiting for him and her agent formation had probably made her more aware of sounds. She let him in and once she had closed the door she threw herself in his arms, crying. He embraced her, letting her get her barriers down and chose when she wanted to let go. She let go and he took in her swollen eyes, the fact that she had clearly been destroying her nails, a bad habit he knew she had let go off years prior. </p><p>They were about to sit when they heard the knock on the door, he went to open, a delivery man was there, carrying two bags. Tony took them, paid the guy and closed the door. He put one in her kitchen and brought the other one with him to the living room. They sat and he got the cheeseburgers out, making her laugh.</p><p>“Cheeseburgers ! That’s exactly what she would have done !” the laughter broke, tears rushing down her face once more. </p><p>“Remember that time after you fell in DisneyWorld ?” he asked.</p><p>She laughed, remembering.</p><p>“We spent hours searching for a decent cheeseburger in Orlando,” she pursued, laughing. “None of them were edible by Aunt Peg’s standards, I don’t even know how many places we tried.”</p><p>“And each time, she said ‘This is an abomination ! There is absolutely no way you children are eating that, even during the War I never ate something that awful.’” he imitated, taking a british accent. </p><p>“Remember, after your kidnapping when you were eleven ? I was so surprised to find her when going out of school and she just told me she needed something to change your mind, we made that castle in our bedroom. She insisted we needed lights in it, otherwise it wasn’t a true castle and you made one out of junk in just a few minutes, it was the first time I saw you work. She knew exactly what you needed.”</p><p>“She always did,” he agreed. “But she could be quite violent too,” he laughed. </p><p>“Remember how Jarvis always tried to beat her ?”</p><p>He laughed once more.</p><p>“She always kicked his ass in record time.”</p><p>“And Uncle Dan actually put a timer each time,” she added, “what was her best time ?”</p><p>“0.48 seconds !” they both said, laughing. </p><p>They kept doing that, telling stories they both already knew, remembering the woman who had forged both of them. Half an hour after they were done eating, Tony raised, immediately Sharon grabbed his arm.</p><p>“Don’t leave,” she asked, sounding broken, she had every right to be. </p><p>“I’m not going anywhere,” he reassured her, “just thought we needed hot chocolates.”</p><p>She nodded in agreement, “Uncle Dan’s ?”</p><p>“Wouldn’t have it any other way,” he said as they made their way to the kitchen where he had left the second bag. </p><p>Tony prepared it, searching the cupboards for mugs, he wanted to have his hands occupied on anything, he needed to be occupied. It took approximately five minutes for the hot chocolates to be ready, melted marshmallow on top of it. They were both seated at the kitchen table to  drink them. </p><p>“The funeral is in four days,” she told him. “It’s in London, same place as for Jonathan’s and James’s.”</p><p>He nodded, now the images of his cousins came to his mind, Jonathan and James were a lot older than them, Peggy and Daniel hadn’t had their children as late as Howard did. But despite the age difference they had always played with Tony when they were there, Sharon hadn’t spent as much time with them as he did since she was already six years younger than Tony. James, the younger one, had died first in a car crash not so long before Tony was kidnapped in Afghanistan. Jonathan’s cancer had been detected as Tony was himself dying because of his arc reactor, he died a year and a half after. Tony had always known money couldn’t buy everything, but hell, hadn’t he tried anyway, he didn’t even know how much he had paid those doctors and research hoping that they would be able to save him. He knew James had been the one who chose his first Teddy Bear, remembered making a tree house with Jonathan. Wherever his aunt was, he hoped she had found her sons. </p><p>“Have you called Rhodey ?” she asked, putting him out of his mind. “Was Pepper home with you ?”</p><p>He sighed. </p><p>“We’re on a break…” he admitted, looking down at his hands.</p><p>“You should tell her, and you must call Rhodes.” </p><p>He nodded, “I will.”</p><p>They kept talking during hours, reminiscing, retelling the stories she had once told them about her adventures with Jarvis in the SSR, the Howling Commandos, whose members both her children were named after, the pink flamingo Tony had seen pictures of, Ana Jarvis making gun holders for her, and so much stories they had heard a thousand times. They talked about others that had left them, not mentioning the fact that in the end they were the only two left, talked about their Aunt Angie and her great acting advices to manipulate people, about Maria Stark and the piano lessons she gave her son, about Ana Jarvis and her famous Christmas cookies, about Jonathan and his bikes, about James and all the books he told them to read, about Dum Dum Dugan and his inappropriate jokes Sharon had never actually heard, about Jack Thompson and the hours spent disturbing his work whenever Peggy took them to work, and of course about Edwin Jarvis and that capacity he had to always find the exact words that his interlocutor needed to hear.</p><p> </p><p>Night had fallen a long time ago when they realized how late it was. Tony got up but once more the younger woman stopped him. </p><p>“Can you stay for the night, please ?” she asked. “I don’t want to be alone.”</p><p>“Of course Ronron, I’m staying as long as you need me.”</p><p>They both laid down in the same bed, holding onto each other the same way they did when Sharon came crying in his bed during a storm when they both were at Peggy’s. And like every other time he hummed the tune of a song Peggy used to sing to him when he was afraid of the storm.</p><p> </p><p>They woke up the next morning and Sharon made breakfast, Tony would have been content with only coffee but his cousin was having none of that and forced him into eating the pancakes she had prepared. </p><p>It was ten am and he was about to leave when his phone went off. He looked at the screen and saw it was Pepper, he let out a breath and picked up. </p><p>“Hey Pep, need something ?”</p><p><em> “Where are you ?” </em>there wasn’t the anger that usually accompanied that sentence when he missed anything important for SI, forgot a date or put himself in a dangerous situation, just worry. </p><p>“I’m at Sharon’s,” he answered.</p><p><em> “I’m so sorry Tony,” </em>she said. </p><p>“Who told you ?”</p><p>
  <em> “Steve… God Tony, why didn’t you call me ?” </em>
</p><p>He didn’t know how to answer, he hadn’t even been sure he was allowed to, and it hadn’t really crossed his mind to call anyone before Sharon told him to.</p><p>“I just… She’s the one I call when I don’t know what to do… She… I…”</p><p>
  <em> “I’m coming to get you, alright ?” </em>
</p><p>He nodded before remembering she couldn’t see him.</p><p>“Yeah.”</p><p>
  <em> “I’m here in a few minutes.” </em>
</p><p>“Okay... thank you Pepper,” he added not really knowing what he was saying thank you for, it wasn’t for picking him up, no it was something more important, he just couldn’t say what. </p><p>She hung up and he turned to Sharon. </p><p>“Pep is coming to pick me up,” he informed her. </p><p>“Great,” she came to him, straightening his clothes. Then she seemed to search for something, when she didn’t find it on him she went back to her bedroom, coming out of it with some of his old sunglasses he hadn’t seen in at least three years. She put the glasses on his nose. “There,” she said, “your armor is on.”</p><p>She knew his sunglasses were his armor and he was thankful she had thought of it.</p><p>He remembered the first time he had used sunglasses as an armor, he was sixteen and crying his eyes out in his MIT dorms after the death of Edwin Jarvis, the man who was more of a father to him than Howard ever was. Paparazzis had taken photos of him on the street and his father had called, telling Stark men were made of iron and that he could tell he had cried from the pictures. But the man hadn’t bothered coming to Boston, to comfort his child who had just lost the most important man in his life, no it was Peggy Carter who presented herself at his door, who held him as he was crying, never once complaining about her ruined suit. She was also the one who put sunglasses on his nose that day, explaining that his expressions would be harder to read behind these. And during decades he had worn glasses as his armor, a protection not against the sun but against the world, almost all of it.</p><p> </p><p>“She’s here,” Sharon’s voice pulled him out of his memories, she was at the window looking down at the street. </p><p>He pulled her into a hug and left the apartment, holding his head high and hiding under everybody’s eyes, behind his sunglasses, the exact way Peggy had taught him.</p><p>He got into the car parked in front of the entrance and was immediately pulled into a hug by Pepper. Happy was driving, he only nodded his way, but Tony knew his friend was there for him too, should he need him. </p><p>“Did you call Rhodey ?” Pepper asked.</p><p>He shook his head. </p><p>“I didn’t call anyone, do anything, I didn’t know what to do, didn’t even think of doing that.”</p><p>She nodded, “It’s alright, I’ll take care of it all.”</p><p>“No Pep, I…” he tried to protest.</p><p>“No objections, you can’t do it, I will. Beginning right now,” she turned towards the front of the car, “Happy, once you’ll have left us at the tower, create a team and bring any belongings of Peggy at the tower, I want them all in a room to be only accessible by Tony, Sharon, Rhodey, you and I.”</p><p>He nodded as Happy agreed, not that he had a real choice there. </p><p>Pepper closed the junction between them and Happy and faced him.</p><p>“I would ask you how you are,” she sighed, “but we both know the answer.”</p><p>She leaned towards him and slowly took his glasses, he could stop her if he wanted but he didn’t, she was one of the people he trusted the most, well, thinking about it, she was now the person he trusted the most in the world. When the sunglasses were completely off his face, she didn’t look away, she kept looking deep inside his eyes. In only a few seconds, he broke down before her eyes.</p><p>“She’s gone Pep. What am I gonna do without her ?”</p><p>She pulled him towards her, taking him in her arms and hugging him and he felt safe, protected. He didn’t have to keep Sharon safe, didn’t have to hide his emotions, wasn’t completely alone, drowning under this new reality, for the first time since he had picked up that call, he felt safe and he allowed himself to crumble. He let his emotions in, let all the suffering he had been pushing away unsuccessfully in, because this time he knew he wouldn’t drown, Pepper wouldn’t let him.</p><p>When the car stopped, Pepper gave him the time he needed, not pushing him in any way. When he sat up, indicating he was ready, she was the one to wipe his tears and then she gave him back his sunglasses.</p><p>They got out of the car and went straight to the elevator, Pepper told F.R.I.D.A.Y to send them to the penthouse and to restrict the access to the same persons that would be granted access to the room with Peggy’s belongings. When they arrived in the penthouse, Pepper led him to the sofa where they both sat, he took off his sunglasses and looked at her like a lost child.</p><p>“What do you want to do ? Do you want to work, I can probably have a messed up car for you to fix in half an hour or so.”</p><p>He nodded, gladly accepting the proposition, she immediately started typing something on her phone before raising her voice. </p><p>“F.R.I.D.A.Y, please restrict the access to Tony’s garage.”</p><p>“Of course Miss Potts, should I use the same list I used earlier ?” asked the artificial intelligence.</p><p>“Yes please.”</p><p>“It is done.”</p><p>“Thank you.”</p><p>“It is always a pleasure, should I do the same thing with Boss’ lab ?”</p><p>“Yes please,” agreed the CEO of SI.</p><p>“All restrictions have been put in place.”</p><p>“Thanks.”</p><p>Pepper stayed with him until they were informed that the car had arrived, they didn’t talk, just sat there in silence, and someway, her presence was enough to appease him. She also went with him to the garage, and seemed pleased to find an old car that had been apparently involved in a car crash. He put himself to work immediately and she sighed while going back to the elevator, she had a lot to do.</p><p> </p><p>Tony stayed in his garage all day and all night, Pepper didn’t have it in her to take him away from his only distraction. She still went down to make him eat but didn’t force him into sleeping. </p><p>“I informed every person who needed to be,” she told him when she brought him dinner. “Tomorrow we’re going to buy you a suit.”</p><p>“I already have suits,” he protested.</p><p>“It’s important that you wear a new one, and one you chose. Therefore, we’re going,” there was no possibility for him to refuse, not when she used that tone, he knew it. “And Sharon is coming with us, I called her already.”</p><p>He didn’t sleep that night, nonetheless the next morning he was leaving in the car with Pepper and they both found Sharon at his tailor’s. Sharon wasn’t empty handed, she holded a red hat he remembered his godmother cherished. When he came closer he saw she also had a suit pin of the same outstanding color. </p><p>“I just… thought we could wear those,” she said when he joined her. “The hat was hers and the pin Uncle Dan’s.”</p><p>She gave them to him and he could admire the pin, it was an origami butterfly. A small smile appeared on his face and he nodded. </p><p>“Yeah, she would love that.”</p><p> </p><p>They spent two hours trying clothes, before settling for suits in the exact same blue of the line on the hat. It was a bold blue, the kind that came out. They both took suits with pants, Sharon’s strangely resembling the ones their Aunt Peg wore when she was young. He let Pepper take care of the delivery, the timing and everything, just paying for the two suits and the black dress Pepper had chosen.</p><p>All three of them went back to the tower, stopping on the way to buy cheeseburgers, when they arrived in the penthouse, they found Rhodey who immediately stood and moved towards them. Not saying a word he pulled Tony in a hug, silently supporting him. When they pulled back he hugged Sharon, telling him how sorry he was for her loss and once that was done he leaned towards Pepper and kissed her cheek. </p><p>They all ate together, listening to the stories Sharon and Tony had to tell about that woman who had had a huge part in raising both of them. After eating, Tony went back to the garage. </p><p>He didn’t get out of there until the next day, when Pepper guided him to the car, they had to go to London for the funeral the next day. </p><p>“Are the others coming with us in the jet ?” he asked Pepper, dreading the possibility of being in front of the team once more, even more since he was as much of a mess as he could possibly be, still dressed in his stained clothes from the garage. </p><p>“No,” she answered, relieving him, “I took them plane tickets, they left this morning. Rhodey, Happy and Sharon are flying with us.” </p><p>He nodded. </p><p>“Thank you Pepper, you did so much… thank you.”</p><p>She smiled and kissed his temple. </p><p>When the car stopped, Tony and Pepper got out as Happy went to take their suitcases. Soon enough, they were on the plane where Sharon and Rhodey were already waiting for them. They all saluted each other and as soon as they were done, Pepper pulled him to the bedroom and pushed him in the bathroom, telling him to take a shower and to go to sleep. He didn’t discuss it, did exactly what he was told and once he was clean he fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. </p><p> </p><p>When he woke up, he found Pepper reading on the other side of the bed and he smiled at that sight, happy that she was with him. She turned to him when she heard him move and smiled too. </p><p>“We’re in London, you slept a long time.” </p><p>And just like that he remembered, how could he even have forgotten how his world had collapsed ? The new reality was a lot harder to deal with after having forgotten it for as little time as it was. He began crying, not even trying to control himself. She let go of her book and moved on the bed to face him, pulling him toward her in a hug. He let her do, finding comfort in her perfume, in the feel of her hands on his skin, in the feel of her hair on his face, in the fact that he knew every little thing about her and in the familiarity she procured him.</p><p>“I forgot,” he whispered once he was calmed, still crying but not sobbing anymore, “how could I forget ? I… for a second… it looked like my life was perfect… you were there… and… and then I remembered… I don’t know if I can make it Pep…”</p><p>“You can,” she said with a soothing voice, “I need you to make a list out loud, about things that you know and that will never change.”</p><p>He began by a few scientific facts, then it became more personal. “Hammer Industries sucks, Sharon is my little cousin, Rhodey is my brother, my father is dead, Aunt Peg loves me, I love her… I love you...”</p><p>He couldn’t see her face, or her reaction, but he felt her arms hugging him more tightly. </p><p>“And I, you,” she said after a little bit of time, “but that was never the problem or even the point, we’ll talk about where we are when this is all over.”</p><p>He nodded, agreeing. After one more minute like that he pulled away and got ready to leave the plane to go to the hotel.</p><p>“Sharon asked if you would like to talk at the ceremony tomorrow, she has a speech prepared herself and said writing it had helped her.”</p><p>He nodded, unsure of what he should answer.</p><p>“She said you could inform her at the last minute and it wouldn't be a problem, you can give it a try, if you don’t like it you’ll just stop.”</p><p>He nodded and during the whole road he thought about what he could say.</p><p>When they arrived at the hotel they were guided to their suites and drifted off, once in his suite, Tony immediately sat down and opened the computer that had been left for him on the table, probably under Happy’s orders. </p><p>He heard the door open twenty minutes later, and turned his head, surprised to find Pepper there, she came and sat with him.</p><p>“I don’t know what to write,” he said, looking at the empty page on his computer.</p><p>“Write about who she was,” the woman simply said, “about the woman you knew.”</p><p>These few words were enough for him to start typing. </p><p>Two hours later, the speech was exactly what he wanted it to be. He closed the computer, not knowing what to do now that this was finished, he really didn’t want to go to sleep.</p><p>“You’re still here,” he realized as he took in his surroundings, Pepper was reading on a sofa near the window.</p><p>“Thought you wouldn’t go to sleep if I didn’t make you,” she replied. “Am I wrong ?”</p><p>“No.”</p><p>She raised, taking his hand and pulling him to the bedroom. She laid on the bed with him.</p><p>“Sleep,” she said. “I’m not going anywhere.”</p><p>He was about to do just that when he realized something.</p><p>“The Accords !”</p><p>“I took care of it,” she reassured him, “We’ll be heading for Vienna the day after tomorrow. Fury made it possible to change the date.”</p><p>“You called Fury ?” </p><p>“Figured he owed it to Peggy,” she shrugged. </p><p>“What did I do to deserve you ?”</p><p>“I can’t figure it out either, now sleep.”</p><p>And knowing she was there was enough for him to relax.</p><p> </p><p>Pepper was the one to wake him up the next morning. She had a coffee in hand.</p><p>“Your clothes are ready, wash and put them on, your sunglasses are on the table with your speech, I need to prepare, we’re leaving in exactly an hour.”</p><p>He nodded and she left his suite as he drank his coffee. </p><p>An hour later, he was climbing in a car with Sharon and Happy behind the wheel, Rhodey and Pepper were in the car behind their own. </p><p>They weren’t the first to arrive at the Church but they were the first to be let in, actually they were the only ones to be let in. They both went to the priest, informing him that they would both make a speech and to announce Sharon first.</p><p>When people began coming in, Tony had his sunglasses on, he didn’t pay attention to the surprised looks sent their way considering their suits. Didn’t even notice the outraged looks of his “teammates” when they saw him in the front row dressed the way he was, didn’t hear either the side comments made by Wilson, Barton and Maximoff. No he simply stood there, his hand clasped tight with Sharon’s, waiting for the funeral to begin and trying to keep in his tears, he had already cried this morning, under the shower and in the car, he knew his eyes were probably swollen and red, but he would keep his tears in as long as he could.</p><p>When the coffin was carried in, his eyes couldn’t leave it, he didn’t even register that Steve Rogers was one of the carriers, too focused on the flag covering the dead body of the person that had mattered the most in his life for so long. </p><p>Steve though, perfectly registered the fact that Tony was sitting in the front row in clothes he deemed inappropriate. </p><p>The priest talked for some time, but Tony didn’t register half of what he was saying, from what he actually heard it was exactly the same jam that had been served at his Uncle Dan’s funeral, a little bit more praising but that was the only difference. Then Sharon was called and he gave her hand a squeeze before releasing it. As soon as she left he felt a hand on his shoulder and he was so thankful for Pepper, Rhodey and Happy to be on the row behind his. He needed contact at that moment, he smiled through his tears during Sharon’s speech, of course Ronron would speak of that picture with JFK, how many times had he found her seated on the floor staring at it ? His cousin described the hero, talked about the woman who knew her value, the one he had decided not to talk about in his speech and he was glad to see their speeches would perfectly complete each other’s.</p><p>“Now I would like to ask Anthony Stark to speak.”</p><p>He raised and walked towards her, they met in the middle and he hugged the blonde, leaning down to kiss her cheek. They then separated and he walked until he reached the place Sharon had just left.</p><p>“Hello, as Sharon truthfully said it, we didn’t know the same Peggy Carter you all did, so I decided to talk to you about Aunt Peg, the woman you didn’t know,” he put his sunglasses off and smiled at Sharon when she looked at him, surprised. “Aunt Peg was a lot of things, an awful cook no doubt, Uncle Dan was always the one to cook. She was the best godmother I could ever dream to have. A very good mother, Jonathan and James left us a few years ago but I know they would agree on the fact that they had the best mother ever,” tears began forming in his eyes as he mentioned his cousins. “She was a loving wife, that’s the least we can say, Uncle Dan and Aunt Peg were so happy together, so much in love. She was the woman crazy enough to try every burger place in Orlando because Sharon had hurt herself at DisneyWorld and each burger we ate that afternoon weren’t edible by her standards. The woman who would always steal your popcorn if you sat by her at the cinema, even though she had her own. Aunt Peg was the one to scream at you if you woke her up and to scream just as much if you let her sleep. She was the one to knock at your door at five am on a sunday to surprise you by taking you to visit MIT a month before school began,” he smiled at the memory. “She always tried to be faster at beating Jarvis each time he wanted to defeat her, and Uncle Dan was happy to take care of the timer, top score 0.48 seconds for her friend to end up on the floor. She always made a huge celebration at Christmas, gathering all friends and family, the Howling Commandos, the actress Angie Martelleni, agents as Jack Thompson, the Jarvises, my family, even some of our friends if we asked. She was the gathering point, because once you knew Aunt Peg you were loyal to her until the very end. Aunt Peg was the rock of all her loved ones lives, she was mine, I know she was yours too Ronron,” he smiled at his cousin, “I’ll tell you what she told me when Jarvis died ‘We just lost the most important person in our lives, but listen to me, we will get through this, together.’” Sharon nodded through her tears and he smiled at her, wiping away the tears that were rushing down his own cheeks. “Thank you for listening.”</p><p>He went back to sitting with Sharon and let her ruin his new suit with her tears as he held her through her sobs, letting his own tears fall silently. </p><p>When the hospice finished they followed the coffin to the place where it would be incinerated. They were given the ashes and both of them left London, they drove for an hour in silence, and stopped in front of the Carter’s old household, the house in which Margaret Elizabeth ‘Peggy’ Carter had grown up. They got out of the car and began walking in the opposite direction of the house, climbing up the hill until they reached a beech at its highest point. There they opened the urn, it was the third time they came, the first time had been at James’s funeral and the second at Jonathan’s, they hadn’t been there when the Carter-Sousa family had dispersed Daniel’s ashes in that very same spot. They released the ashes, gave her back to the soil that had seen her grow. </p><p>They stayed up there for a bit, remembering the stories she had told them about this tree, how she had lost her first tooth when she ran into it at four years old. How she always tried to climb it as her big brother did and he always had to help her because she was five and her arms were just too little. How that’s where she came to see her first teenage love, because she wasn’t really allowed to see somebody from a lower social class than hers. How she had cried there when her brother had been called to join the war. They let these stories sink in and after ten minutes they left, walked back to the car and drove to London once more. </p><p> </p><p>“We should go to the pub,” said Sharon as they entered London.</p><p>He nodded, smiling. </p><p>“As she would have said, ‘We can’t go to London without going to the pub.’”</p><p>The pub they talked about was Dum Dum Dugan’s favorite pub in London, they had been there a lot, it was the meeting point of the Howling Commandos, apart from Peggy’s house at Christmas of course.</p><p>He laughed when he entered the pub, Rhodey had brought Pepper and Happy, probably knowing the cousins would end up here. They were all seated at a table and Sharon and Tony joined them. </p><p>They stayed in the pub until it closed, telling stories about the Howling Commandos, the adventures of Peggy and Jarvis at the SSR, the missions of Daniel with the S.H.I.E.L.D, Jack Thompson’s war adventures, Dum Dum Dugan’s jokes, the yeti story of Jonathan ‘Junior’ Juniper who Tony knew Jonathan Sousa was named after, they talked about them too, Jonathan and James, on and on until they had no choice but to go back to the hotel. And that felt good, to share these stories, to know others would know about all these and that they would not be forgotten. </p><p>For the first time since he had answered that call, Tony looked around him and actually believed things could get better, at least once all this Accords stuff would be signed. </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I wish you liked it !</p></blockquote></div></div>
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